Number of consultations with healthcare workers in the preceding 3 months and annual costs per patient shown for four groups of patients with increasing disease duration and for the total study group
| Healthcare worker | Disease duration, years | All (n = 615) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to ⩽2 (n = 96) | 2 to ⩽6 (n = 261) | 6 to ⩽10 (n = 152) | >10 (n = 106) | |||||||
| Contacts/3 months | Costs/year | Contacts/3 months | Costs/year | Contacts/3 months | Costs/year | Contacts/3 months | Costs/year | Contacts/3 months | Costs/year | |
| Mean (SD). | ||||||||||
| Rheumatologists | 2.4 (1.9) | 515 (364) | 1.2 (1.1) | 221 (193) | 1.2 (1.3) | 239 (260) | 1.5 (0.9) | 318 (225) | 1.4 (1.3) | 288 (269) |
| Rheumatology nurse | 1.5 (1.8) | 141 (164) | 0.4 (1.1) | 35 (99) | 0.3 (1.2) | 30 (111) | 0.2 (0.9) | 21 (82) | 0.5 (1.3) | 48 (119) |
| General practitioner | 0.5 (1.1) | 36 (77) | 0.5 (1.6) | 35 (106) | 0.9 (2.4) | 60 (159) | 1.0 (1.9) | 65 (127) | 0.7 (1.8) | 46 (122) |
| District nurse | 0.3 (2.4) | 43 (305) | 0.5 (5.8) | 69 (739) | 1.5 (10.6) | 192 (1,342) | 0.5 (2.6) | 61 (325) | 0.7 (6.6) | 94 (843) |
| Formal home help | 1.5 (4.3) | 103 (303) | 1.1 (4.2) | 79 (296) | 1.7 (8.6) | 123 (607) | 4.0 (12.3) | 281 (868) | 1.8 (7.4) | 129 (525) |
| Therapy | ||||||||||
| Physiotherapy | 4.0 (8.1) | 292 (588) | 2.6 (6.3) | 190 (454) | 2.6 (7.1) | 189 (512) | 3.2 (7.1) | 231 (520) | 2.9 (6.9) | 213 (503) |
| Hydrotherapy | 0.5 (2.1) | 32 (150) | 0.6 (2.6) | 43 (187) | 0.3 (2.4) | 21 (171) | 0.7 (2.7) | 51 (189) | 0.5 (2.5) | 38 (178) |
| Exercise therapy | 0.4 (2.3) | 27 (165) | 0.6 (3.3) | 44 (232) | 0.3 (2.5) | 24 (180) | 0.6 (3.3) | 45 (235) | 0.5 (3.0) | 37 (211) |
| Occupational therapist | 0.5 (2.1) | 38 (151) | 0.1 (0.4) | 4 (26) | 0.1 (1.1) | 10 (79) | 0.5 (2.8) | 35 (200) | 0.2 (1.6) | 16 (112) |
| Social worker | 0.1 (0.8) | 24 (123) | 0.1 (0.4) | 8 (66) | 0.1 (1.1) | 20 (179) | 0.0 (0.2) | 5 (35) | 0.1 (0.7) | 13 (111) |
| Psychologists | 0.1 (0.6) | 10 (100) | 0.0 (0.2) | 3 (40) | 0.0 (0.4) | 5 (66) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.0 (0.4) | 4 (58) |
| Rehabilitation doctor | 0.1 (0.4) | 14 (58) | 0.0 (0.1) | 3 (22) | 0.0 (0.1) | 1 (13) | 0.0 (0.2) | 5 (35) | 0.0 (0.2) | 5 (32) |
| Medical officer | 0.4 (0.9) | 57 (153) | 0.0 (0.2) | 5 (35) | 0.0 (0.3) | 4 (53) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.1 (0.4) | 12 (72) |
| Personnel officer | 0.1 (0.5) | 20 (76) | 0.0 (0.4) | 6 (69) | 0.0 (2.0) | 0 (3.3) | 0.0 (0.2) | 3 (28) | 0.0 (0.3) | 6 (55) |
| Pastor | 0.2 (1.1) | 26 (176) | 0.0 (0.2) | 3 (34) | 0.0 (0.3) | 4 (43) | 0.2 (0.7) | 25 (111) | 0.1 (0.5) | 10 (89) |
| Other | 0.3 (1.3) | 71 (252) | 0.4 (2.0) | 77 (390) | 0.4 (1.7) | 79 (383) | 0.5 (1.5) | 116 (405) | 0.4 (1.8) | 83 (372) |